Off grid cabin , lead acid battery maintenance schedule

[@csmith785]

Man I wasn't prepared for how nice that cabin was going to be when you spun the camera around. That place is sweet!

[@chadjones99]

thanks its home

[@noahriding5780]

Wow. Your system is really interesting!

[@chadjones99]

Fyi we just switched to lifepo4

[@Fester_]

" 48v 200ah - that'll do the trick ". Yes indeed. No one can say a thing bad about your system as the proof is in the pudding, 15 years of finding out what works for you. Bolt down those solar panels firmly lesson learnt the hard way. Wind generator just sits in the corner churning out power hour after hour. Thanks for allowing us to see your property.

[@chadjones99]

thanks, ya we are going to go Li-ion when these batteries are depleted. Probably this summer.

[@chadjones99]

on a 48 volt system you can get inverters that have a much higher capacity , they do not need to pull high amps like on a 12 volt system . I have three 48 volt systems , one of them has a 8kw inverter and it does just fine.

[@chadjones99]

@@able880 to long did not read

[@able880]

@@chadjones99 I deleted it for you

[@oilpressing]

One heck of a nice house you have

[@chadjones99]

thanks, Colorado 8000 ft , but winter is here!

[@cloudenergyinternational4930]

Cool, your installation is very professional👍

[@chadjones99]

thank you , check out my FB page for more info : solar johnson trailer

[@joecool4656]

I didn’t catch if you were using distilled water or not. Please make sure you use distilled to fill the batteries! Regular water has minerals and other impurities suspended in it

[@chadjones99]

Yes I am but thanks for the info. Been using distilled water . Thats why they last me 5 to 6 years

[@jacquesdutron9954]

Sir, this is amazing. Thx 4 sharing your systems with me. Let me ask you a question though. Isn't a wooden case for your batteries bank a risk of fire?

[@chadjones99]

I don't believe so , the battery is in plastic tubs for any leakage, and a metal case will conduct electricity, wood at this voltage will not.. so the only risk is if a battery caught fire ( which there is no reason for that with this system , unless something crazy happened ) I guess it could spread, but Ive had batteries in a wood box for about 15 years, ( this box is only 2 years old ) and never had a problem. Also a metal box would be very heavy and the cost would be crazy compared to wood

[@jacquesdutron9954]

@@chadjones99 thank you very much. I'm just learning and not trying to be disrespectful or condescending or sarcastic. Thx.

[@chadjones99]

@@jacquesdutron9954 ya no problem . This cabin was built about 15 years ago , and about 2 years ago we moved the battery to inside the basement as they had been in a out building next to the house for 13 years , so this box is new ish

[@noahriding5780]

If he was worried about fire risk he could put something to layer over the wood if he wanted.

[@noahriding5780]

Is converting to 24 v or 48v how you get around and fix the idea of not being able to use devices with higher wattage from your system? With a 12 V system I am finding that you can't really hardly pull any higher watt usage devices from the system because the power dips and then the inverter would block pulling the watts because it didn't like it when the voltage would drop too far from a bigger load (to protect the batteries). Maybe doing 24 v or 48 v systems are how you get away from that?

[@themastereal8345]

what are using as a bms? to protect each cell?

[@chadjones99]

Lead acid . You don't use bms on lead acid . Charging set by inverter charger and charge controller

[@wherami]

man thats impressive

[@matthewwiemken7293]

Should replace the lead acid for a real battery system (LFP) and realize dramatic improvement:)

[@chadjones99]

your right. I have such a system ( 3 of them 48 volt trophy battery ) . but I still have 3 to 4 years of life left in this battery so I'm not going to waste them.... check out my FB page to see current projects : search this name : Solar Trailers Johnson

[@MrRob1426]

So what kind of "real battery system" do you currently have?

[@chadjones99]

@@MrRob1426 not sure what you mean when you ask in " " marks about a real system ? We have a lead acid system in the Cabin as listed above. I have two mobile systems that use 48-volt Lipo4 trophy batteries. But Im not switching out the Lead-acid system because they still have a couple years left in them and I don't see a need in wasting the batteries if they are still good. when we bought this current lead acid system about 3 years ago Lipo4 replacement ( to match this size ) was out of our budget.

[@MrRob1426]

@@chadjones99 Sorry for the confusion. My comment was meant for the one that said you should replace your batteries. Use what ya got if it's working. I like it. 👍

[@chadjones99]

@@MrRob1426 Ok cool , ya I was like well I would like to but this is what we have the budget for LOL

[@charlieabel1533]

only 6 years? You can get 30+ years from nickel iron batteries!

[@chadjones99]

Yep, 6 years on the high side... at a cost of 80$ per battery ( well at the last purchase ) . We started buying these types of batteries in 2008 . what is the cost of nickel batteries back in 08?

[@Zdendasoft]

Fireptoof?

[@chadjones99]

Huh ? do you mean to ask if its fire proof ? No it is not but I have no reason to think a fire would start , at worse the battery can leak which have pans under them inside this box, plus box is ventalted to the outside. If a battery explodes its inside the box and will just splatter acid ,

[@seaislevel7233]

Car batteries are not something you can make or grow yourself so YOUR LYING about being off grid.

[@chadjones99]

What are you referring too ? 1) not car batterys ( lead acid gulf cart 8 volt batterys) 2) i never said I made them ... bought from. Sams club 3) you can make lead acid batterys all though I would not. 4) why would I have all those hooked up if I was not off grid?

[@joecool4656]

Off grid in this case is referring to not being tied into an electrical grid